If a person does not know someone, they will judge them not on their character or by their skills, but instead by more easily discernible aspects of their person, such as their skin color. For example, on the first day of school, Miss Caroline tells Scout that her previous knowledge of reading “would interfere with [Scout’s] reading”(17). Miss Caroline is a metaphor for society as she repeatedly follows the stereotype that all first graders should not know how to read and write to Scout’s detriment. She is an exceptional member of the first grade who is suffering because of the actions of the rest of her group, like how the vast majority of African Americans suffer from the negative aspects of few. Miss Caroline’s prejudice shows how all preconceptions restrains development by beating down those who are ahead of the stereotype until they conform. This is like Tom Robinson’s trial, because although he was a honest, hard-working person, all the jury could see what the color of his skin, which implied to them that he was the lazy dishonest Negro, like how the only part of Scout Miss Caroline saw was the first-grader part, and prompted her to treat her exceptionalities with distaste. Likewise, Aunt Alexandra has a habit of remarking on Scout’s behavior and how it should be more ladylike although Scout has no intentions of becoming a lady. Aunt Alexandra’s expectations for Scout to play “with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave [Scout] when [she] was born” neither fits with the child’s personality nor her nature, like society’s often inaccurate stereotypes. These stereotypes don’t fit with the people they represent because they were formed by outsiders with a lack of empathy with the subjects of the prejudice, like how Aunt Alexandra’s expectations of Scout are based of her beliefs on what every young girl should amount to in life,
If a person does not know someone, they will judge them not on their character or by their skills, but instead by more easily discernible aspects of their person, such as their skin color. For example, on the first day of school, Miss Caroline tells Scout that her previous knowledge of reading “would interfere with [Scout’s] reading”(17). Miss Caroline is a metaphor for society as she repeatedly follows the stereotype that all first graders should not know how to read and write to Scout’s detriment. She is an exceptional member of the first grade who is suffering because of the actions of the rest of her group, like how the vast majority of African Americans suffer from the negative aspects of few. Miss Caroline’s prejudice shows how all preconceptions restrains development by beating down those who are ahead of the stereotype until they conform. This is like Tom Robinson’s trial, because although he was a honest, hard-working person, all the jury could see what the color of his skin, which implied to them that he was the lazy dishonest Negro, like how the only part of Scout Miss Caroline saw was the first-grader part, and prompted her to treat her exceptionalities with distaste. Likewise, Aunt Alexandra has a habit of remarking on Scout’s behavior and how it should be more ladylike although Scout has no intentions of becoming a lady. Aunt Alexandra’s expectations for Scout to play “with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace she gave [Scout] when [she] was born” neither fits with the child’s personality nor her nature, like society’s often inaccurate stereotypes. These stereotypes don’t fit with the people they represent because they were formed by outsiders with a lack of empathy with the subjects of the prejudice, like how Aunt Alexandra’s expectations of Scout are based of her beliefs on what every young girl should amount to in life,